The Aftermath
by queenofdiamondsxoxo
Summary: "Death, destruction, debris billowed through the air as he stood in his place, wondering what the hell he was doing. Where was his maneuver gear? Why was he just standing here? Why were the Titans ignoring him? Why didn't he hurt anymore?" After Marco dies, instead of saving humanity, he must protect one of the few who will. JeanxMarco, AU, Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: Hello again! I've decided to use my time on Christmas break to start writing some more fics (I just have so many feelings) and I came up with this one a few days ago. It'll probably be some time before I add the next chapter for this (thanks to the six-paged research paper my wonderful English teacher is making my class write) but for now I hope you enjoy! Pairing is Jean/Marco, and this takes place after Marco dies (it's kind of self-explanatory). I'll be going now, enjoy!**

* * *

He could see it everywhere.

Death, destruction, debris billowed through the air as he stood in his place, wondering what the hell he was doing. Where was his maneuver gear? Why was he just standing here? Why were the Titans ignoring him?

Why didn't he hurt anymore?

Marco Bodt spun around on one heel, his eyes searching frantically through the chaos for signs of a fellow soldier. Where was everyone?

Over his head, he heard a familiar rush of air sweep past him. He looked up, seeing two Survey Corps soldiers, and he raised his arms, panic rising slightly in his throat.

"Guys! Guys, I need help! Hey! Over here!" Marco waved his arms frantically in the air as the two soldiers landed on a small little cottage that was surprisingly untouched by the destruction around it. Marco ran closer.

"Hey! I need help! I don't have any gear! Can't you hear me?!" He screamed as he stopped at the edge of the street, going unnoticed by the pair. The two soldiers were panting, and Marco could hear just the slightest of their conversation.

"We have to keep going! The rest of the squad needs our help!" The girl exclaimed, turning to take flight once more when the boy took her by the shoulders and shook her hard.

"No! Don't you understand? They're dead! They're all dead! A Titan got to Anthony and Ella, and a second one squashed Steven like a bug! We have to find the Lance Corporal and his squad, maybe they ca-"

He was interrupted by a giant pair of fingers picking him up by the waist, and Marco could only watch in horror as the girl began to scream.

They boy wriggled frantically in the Titan's grip, tears streaming down his face as he yelled to the girl, "Go! Go find the Lance Corporal! Quickly, or-"

Gone.

The girl was still screaming, and Marco mouth hung open in shock. She needed to get out of there, what the hell was wrong with her?

"Go! What are you doing? Come on!" He screamed at her, but to no avail as she stood there, mouth open wide as the Titan reached forward and picked her up. She continued to scream, her cries for help blatantly ignored as the Titan's enormous mouth opened wide.

And then there was silence.

Marco's mouth stayed unhinged as he dropped to his knees, tears streaming down his face as the beast wobbled away, looking for its next victim. Just like that, the girl and boy had been taken away, like cattle ready for slaughter. He shook his head, trying desperately to clear his mind of the girl's voice, which echoed through his head as if she was still there. He had to do something. Get somewhere. Warn somebody. Tell them an entire squad had just been taken, taken in an instant so fast it was as if he had blinked and they were gone. Marco picked himself up, rising shakily from the ground below, and stumbled forward. He needed to-_ why was going dark?_- there had to be- corners of his vision growing dimmer-_ someone, help_.

The last thing Marco saw before the ground rose up to meet him was the sun, warm against his face as if it was a beautiful day.  
. . . . . . .

"Erwin. We need to talk."

Commander Erwin sighed to himself, turning around to meet the figure speaking his name. The monotonous tone had a slight message he interpreted briefly as If-We-Don't-Figure-Out-Something-We're-Completely-Fucked-So-Get-Your-Ass-In-Gear. It was the sort of thing that he expected from the Lance Corporal, a short man named Levi who wore the same expression and showed no emotion whatsoever, with even the largest of problems thing sliding off of him like it had no effect. He smiled down at the shorter man, who scowled in return.

"Ah, Lance Corporal, it's about time you dropped by for a visit." He turned away from the crowd of soldiers that had grouped next to a medic station, and Levi's face grew darker than it already was, something Erwin didn't think was possible.

"This isn't a time for games, Erwin. Almost forty percent of our soldiers are gone in one shot. What are we supposed to put into our report?" Levi crossed his arms over each other, leaning against a wall that had surprisingly stayed put throughout the destruction. Erwin sighed once more as he looked around, a plan forming inside of his head. He knew it would cost them, but it needed to be done temporarily before the rest of their soldiers were taken as well.

"Go out with your squad and report to the soldiers to retreat, we can't risk losing anymore than we already have. We meet back here at the medic stations and we don't leave until everyone is fit enough to go back out again." Erwin searched Levi's face for any indication that this may be a bad move, but the raven-haired man simply nodded to his squad, taking off as if he had never been there in the first place. Erwin looked up into the sky, closing his eyes and allowing himself half a second of peace as the sun warmed his face, almost as if it was just another beautiful day.


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Hey everyone! Thank you for being so patient, school's been hell (midterms and regents and I got really sick -_-), but I was finally able to finish the second chapter. So here it is, without any more waiting! And thanks once again, R/R if you like! :3**

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He was laying somewhere, a light shining brightly onto his face that caused him to squint hard as he stretched.

"Come on, just five more minutes." Marco complained as he reached to pull back covers that weren't there. When he felt nothing but air, his eyes shot open and within a second he was upright, heart beating rapidly and panic rising inside of him. Where was he? And what happened? And then the memories came flooding back to him; the young boy's pleading for his squad member to find safety, and her horrified cries as she looked into the face of death. Marco stood wearily, eyes filling with tears as he emptied his stomach on the grass he was laying on. One question stood unanswered in the back of his mind as he stood back up, wiping his mouth: why couldn't they hear him?

"Well, it's about time you woke up, Sleeping Beauty."

Marco whipped around at the sound of another person, especially someone who he could actually talk to. A girl stood a few feet away, flaming red hair tied back into a curly ponytail and green eyes blazing. She smirked at him as he stood there awkwardly, crossing her arms across her chest and rolling her eyes.

"Well, aren't you going to introduce yourself? Especially since you kept me waiting for so long." She asked impatiently. Marco's mouth dropped open slightly and he shook his head, trying to clear his mind. What was this girl's deal? Maybe she was from another squad?

"Yeah, I'm from another squad, but not the kind that you're thinking of. Name please?"

Now Marco gaped openly at her in shock. "H-how did you know that-"

"That's usually the first thing everybody thinks of when they get here. That and 'Where am I?'" She rolled her eyes again and wiped at her forehead, squinting into the sun. "Wow, is it hot or is it just me?"

Marco just blinked; he couldn't believe this girl was just standing there as if everything was normal. "Can you explain to me what the hell is going on?"

The girl rolled her eyes again (how many times was she going to do that?) as she slapped her hand to her forehead, groaning as she turned to looked at Marco. "See, this is my problem. I never really explain anything the right way. Ugh. Okay. First things first, and I'm sorry to have to explain this to you in such a brief manner, but..." She bit her lip, giving Marco a look that said I'm sorry about this but...

Marco's heart pounded furiously. "But what?"

"You're dead."

This time, Marco's entire heart dropped, as if it had sunk into the ocean, and it began to beat faster than ever before. "W-what are you talking about? I was just-"

The girl shook her head sympathetically. "No, you weren't. You most likely blacked out for a few hours. It happens to newbies, but you'll get used to it eventually." She grinned sheepishly. "Sorry for being so rude before, my name's Roseline." Roseline held out her hand to Marco, but he wasn't paying attention; his mind was swimming as it tried to process the news given to him.

Dead.

He had died. He had failed, he couldn't even save himself, what kind of idiot signs up to protect others and can't even defend himself?

"Hey, now wait just a second, kid. It's not your fault, plenty of people have died who were way better than you and I combined, and let me tell you I was pretty decent back in my day." Roseline tried lightening the mood by placing her hands on her hips in a superhero stance, but Marco hunched over a second time, once again emptying his stomach onto the grass. His head swirled and he dropped to his knees, rubbing his face in his hands. He could hear Roseline move to stand beside him, and Marco looked up at her, multiple questions forming inside of his head. He needed answers.

Okay. Relax. First question.

"How do you know everything before I'm about to say it?" He asked, and Roseline shrugged her shoulders.

"It's my ability. If you end up like us here, you get an ability that will help you on your mission. Which is next on my explanation list. You'll find out yours eventually."

She held out her hand to help Marco up, and he lifted from his knees, wiping the dirt off of his pants. Roseline's eyebrows raised in surprise as she looked up at him.

"Damn, you would have thought dying would have taken a couple of inches off of you. Oh well. Anyway, follow me." She spun on her heel and took off running towards an old church. Marco had no time to think as he rushed after her, because hey, it may be the only time he'd ever talk to anyone again if what she was saying was true. As they ran through the broken streets, Marco took in the chaos around him; bodies lay haphazardly everywhere, some with limbs missing or limbs being the only thing left of them. He shuddered as they finally came to a stop in front of a church, broken glass shattered across the entrance and entire steeples gone. He paused to look up at the once-whole building, taking in the sight before him.

"Well, don't look so surprised, you've seen worse." Roseline snapped, pushing a plank out of the way as she made her way inside. Marco shook his head and followed suit. Inside amongst the rubble and ash were Survey Corps soldiers, some fixing their gear and some sitting around, laughing as if nothing had happened at all. Roseline pushed her way through a group, flicking her hand in the air as a signal to Marco to follow behind. She made her way to the front of the church, pulling herself stop the broken altar and clearing her throat to gain their attention.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen, no time for playing around now. We have jobs to do and shit to get done. Oh, and everyone meet our new friend Marco!" She grinned toothily as she gestured to Marco, who gave his best dear in the headlights impression and waved sheepishly. Roseline rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to speak, but before she could she was interrupted by a tall, blonde haired boy who walked out to the front.

"Listen up, Ro, don't go getting on your high horse just because you go out and find them. Everyone else is stuck here doing the actual work and you're playing leader as you sit on your ass!" He accused angrily, blue eyes glaring at the short redhead. Roseline jumped down from her spot on the altar and placed her hands on her hips.

"Take a look around, Ethan, what exactly is getting done? Nobody's doing anything! The people they're supposed to be defending are actually COMING BACK for their own missions now! You think what I'm doing is bad? At least I'm actually doing something!" Everyone winced at the words thrown into the open, which looked to be true. Ethan opened his mouth to speak again, but Roseline wasn't having it.

"I get it, really, I do, our job is hard but we had to do the same exact thing that they're going through now. We didn't make it. Our job now is to make sure that they do. So, Ethan, please, just do me a favor and complain later on in the evening, or never at all. Never at all being more preferable." Roseline finished with a smile, and the tall blonde scowled as he turned on his heel and made his way to another broken pew, seemingly helping out. She turned to face Marco and shrugged apologetically, pushing a lock of hair out of her face.

"Sorry about that. I wouldn't want that to have been my first day on the job. Alright," she announced, "can someone hand me a file for Marco Bodt?"

A thin boy scrambled over a few broken tiles and handed her a manila folder, keeping his eyes towards the floor. "This is the latest one, miss."

Marco looked at Roseline, whose entire demeanor changed as she smiled at the younger boy. "Thank you, Tommy, and again I don't want you calling me Miss. I'm not that old, you know."

The younger boy looked up and smiled, a little sparkle appearing in his eye that he hadn't seen since he had ended up in this place. He ran back to the pew where he was working, and Roseline slapped the folder hard against Marco's chest without a single look at him.

Well, that change was quick.

"I've got other stuff to handle. This is your first one, so read over the folder and come back to me when you're finished." She called over her shoulder as she walked away, and Marco sighed as he leaned upon the edge of the pew a group of soldiers were working at. This was going to take some getting used to. He opened up the folder and read the name printed across the top.

Jean Kirschstein.


End file.
